From the first time Laura Chapot saw Bradberry, she wanted to ride him. She had to wait a while to get the ride, but it turned out to be worthwhile as she and the chestnut gelding claimed the blue ribbon in the $30,000 Stillwell-Hansen Grand Prix at the Monmouth County Horse Show, Aug. 20-24 in East Freehold Park, N.J.
“He’s such a cool horse. From the first day I rode him I always wanted him. When he came into the country I rode him for McLain [Ward] for a little while. Then he got sold to [Hunter Harrison], but I always wanted to get the horse back and somehow we managed to do it,” said Chapot, of Neshanic Station, N.J.
At the 2007 Pennsylvania National Horse Show, Kristin Vanderveen rode Bradberry to the individual bronze medal in the Adequan/USEF Prix des States Junior Jumper Championships. Vanderveen was leasing Bradberry from Harrison’s Double H Farm.
Current owner Harold Vogel handed over the reins to Chapot in the beginning of 2008. “He suits my style really well,” said Chapot of the speedy little Selle Français. Known for her love of speed, Chapot noted that “he is so fast that I have to not try to go fast with him.”
A win was not what she expected, though, since this was their first grand prix together.
| Tidbits • Winning the Marshall & Sterling Children’s Jumper Classic seemed harder this year for Dani Paradysz, the defending champion. In 2007, the 14-year-old rode her pony, Indigo, to victory at Monmouth as a step toward the NAL Pony Jumper Finals (Pa.) last fall. This year, she was aboard a horse and faced what she termed “a much tougher division. The height [of the fences] is taller and the course can be a lot more technical and the competition is harder,” said Paradysz. “I saved time on him with an inside turn from the rollback to jump 10, which was really helpful. He is such a good boy,” she said of the 16.1-hand horse she and her trainer, Bert Mutch, found last winter. • Jennifer Alfano made a clean sweep of the professional hunter divisions. Jersey Boy took the tricolors in the second year green and regular working hunter divisions, while The Specialist won all five classes in the first year green section. Trainer Susie Schoellkopf found Jersey Boy, or “Lewis,” two years ago and named the 16.1-hand, chestnut, warmblood after the musical Jersey Boy. Meredith Lipke Bartolone bought The Specialist, or “Elton,” early this year. A 16.1-hand, bay, warmblood, Elton will eventually be an amateur mount for Bartolone. |
Vanderveen had shown Bradberry, 10, in a handful of grand prix classes in Ocala, Fla., last year while Chapot competed Bradberry in the 1.30-meter and 1.35-meter divisions during the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) early this year.
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“He is careful and super-fast, so when I got into the jump-off [I thought] I did have a shot at winning,” she said.
Anthony D’Ambrosio built a testing track for the 29 starters. “He had a really good course. It had places where you could lose your rhythm. You had to stay on top of things,” said Chapot, who had three mounts in the class. She was also third on Church Road, with the fastest time of the jump-off but a rail.
Brianne Goutal and her charming pinto horse, Mon Gamin, were the first of six first-round clears to jump off. Although Goutal and her “Pony” posted a 43.30-second time, their one rail put them in fifth at the end.
Linda Sheridan, Ringoes, N.J., went next and set the standard, laying down a clean round in 43.46 seconds on her Invitational (Olisco—Cool Twist). No one else could put a clean round together until Chapot rode Bradberry into the ring as the last to go.
Bradberry put in some fancy footwork to avoid going back into the ring, but once Chapot got him going, she turned Bradberry’s ballet of reluctance into a blistering 40.05-second clean trip. She had a little help from her father, Frank, however. As Bradberry approached the second-to-last fence, the elder Chapot gave a swift kick in the air to an imaginary mount and let go with a yell to urge on Bradberry.
Nancy Degutis
